Federal prosecutors informed a choose {that a} letter purportedly despatched by Sam Bankman-Fried from jail was truly shipped through FedEx from elsewhere totally, suggesting somebody outdoors impersonated him.
The submitting provides an uncommon wrinkle to Bankman-Fried’s post-conviction combat. The FTX founder, sentenced to 25 years for fraud and conspiracy, has been pursuing a brand new trial from Federal Correctional Establishment Terminal Island in San Pedro, California.
Prosecutors say the suspect letter was docketed March 16 however shipped from Palo Alto or Menlo Park, mislabeled the jail as a state facility, and carried a typed “/s/” as an alternative of an precise signature.
Bureau of Prisons laws bar inmates from sending mail by means of personal carriers like FedEx, prosecutors famous.
Taken collectively, prosecutors stated these discrepancies present “cause to doubt” the letter was despatched by Bankman-Fried.
The federal government didn’t accuse the defendant or his associates of fabricating the doc, however the submitting indicators a willingness to problem the reliability of supplies submitted as a part of his effort to safe a brand new trial.
Bankman-Fried has repeatedly argued that he didn’t obtain a good trial and has pointed to what he claims is new proof, together with the later restoration of buyer funds by means of the FTX chapter course of.
Appellate judges have signaled skepticism towards that argument, stressing that the case turned on how buyer funds have been used and represented on the time, not whether or not collectors have been later made complete.